The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
Fourth Edition
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
Chapter 5:
Separate and
Together:
Life in Groups
What Is a Group?
• A group is a
collection of people
who share some
attribute, identify
with one another,
and interact with
each other.
• Social groups
provide the values,
norms, and rules that
guide people’s lives.
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What Is a Group?
(cont’d.)
• A crowd is different than a group
because it is simply a temporary
gathering of people in a public place,
whose members may interact but do
not identify with each other and will not
remain in contact.
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What Is a Group?
(cont’d.)
• A crowd is one
example of an
aggregate, a
collection of people
who share a
physical location
but do not have
lasting social
relations.
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What Is a Group?
(cont’d.)
• Primary groups usually involve
the greatest amount of face-to-face
interaction and cooperation and the
deepest feelings of belonging.
• In these groups, we are closely
associated with the other members,
such as family and friends.
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What Is a Group?
(cont’d.)
• Larger, less personal groups are
known as secondary groups. Secondary
groups are usually organized around a
specific activity or the accomplishment
of a task.
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Social Networks
• A social network is the web of
direct and indirect ties connecting an
individual to other people.
• You and your family, friends, peers,
colleagues, teachers, and coworkers
constitute your social network.
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Social Network
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Separate from
Groups: Anomie
• Since groups provide values, norms,
and rules that guide people’s lives, is it
possible that the modern world makes
people disconnected from their groups
and creates feelings of anomie, or
normlessness?
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Group Dynamics
• Group dynamics are the
patterns of interaction between
groups and individuals.
• This includes the ways groups:
• Form and fall apart
• Influence members
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• A dyad is the smallest possible social
group (two members). It is unstable
because of the small size—if one
person leaves the group, it ceases to
exist.
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• A triad (a three-person group) is more
stable than a dyad. Conflicts between
two members can be mediated by the
third.
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• An in-group is a group that a person
identifies with and feels loyalty toward.
• An out-group is a group that a person
feels opposition, rivalry, or hostility
toward.
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• A reference group is a group that
provides a standard of comparison
against which people evaluate
themselves.
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• Group cohesion is the sense
of solidarity or loyalty that
individuals feel toward a group to
which they belong.
• A group is more cohesive when the
individual members feel strongly tied to
the group.
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Group Dynamics
(cont’d.)
• Too much cohesion can lead
to the kind of poor decision making
called groupthink, which is the tendency
of very cohesive groups to enforce a
high degree of conformity among
members, creating a demand for
unanimous agreement.
• Asch’s Line Experiment
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh
4MkcfJA
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Social Influence
(Peer Pressure)
• Social influence (peer pressure)
is the influence of one’s fellow group
members on individual attitudes and
behaviors.
• Generally we conform to group norms
because we want to gain acceptance
and approval (positive sanctions) and
avoid rejection and disapproval
(negative sanctions).
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Types of Conformity
• Compliance: the mildest form
of conformity; actions to gain
reward or avoid punishment
• Identification: conformity to establish or
maintain a relationship with a person or
group
• Internalization: the strongest type of
conformity; an individual adopts the
beliefs or actions of a group and makes
them his or her own
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Teamwork
• A group almost always
outperforms an individual but rarely
performs as well as it could in theory. A
group’s efficiency usually declines as its
size increases because organizing takes
time and social loafing increases with
group size.
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Teamwork (cont’d.)
• Group leaders can
increase efficiency
by recognizing
individual effort or by
increasing members’
social identity (the
degree to which they
identify with the
group).
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Qualities of Leadership:
Power, Authority, and Style
• Power is the ability to control the
actions of others. It includes:
• Coercive power—backed by the threat
of force
• Influential power—supported by
persuasion
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Qualities of Leadership:
Power, Authority, and Style
(cont’d.)
• Max Weber identified three
types of authority found in social
organizations.
• Traditional authority is authority based in
custom, birthright, or divine right and is
usually associated with monarchies and
dynasties.
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Qualities of Leadership:
Power, Authority, and Style
(cont’d.)
• Legal-rational authority is
authority based in laws, rules, and
procedures.
• Charismatic authority is authority based
in the perception of remarkable personal
qualities in a leader.
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Qualities of Leadership:
Power, Authority, and Style
(cont’d.)
• Instrumental leadership is
leadership that is task- or goal-oriented.
An instrumental leader is less
concerned with people’s feelings than
with getting the job done.
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Qualities of Leadership:
Power, Authority, and Style
(cont’d.)
• An expressive leader is
concerned with maintaining emotional
and relational harmony within the group
because this will lead to a positive work
environment and improved productivity.
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Bureaucracy
• A bureaucracy is a type of secondary
group designed to perform tasks
efficiently.
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Bureaucracy (cont’d.)
• Bureaucracies are impersonal
but efficient, and they provide many
basic necessities.
• George Ritzer coined the term
McDonaldization to describe the spread
of bureaucratic rationalization and the
resulting increase in both efficiency
and dehumanization.
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THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES
HIGH STATUS
In the upper class there is a stress
on the importance of strong ties
and forming elite clubs.
ADMINISTRATIVE
Administrators are most likely to be
cosmopolitans and involved in an organization
to branch out and form new ties.
PROFESSIONAL
Professionals, technical, and managerial
workers will most likely hear about new
jobs through weak ties.
The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
Third Edition
OFFICE WORKER
The office worker may have
mixed connections in both
higher and lower classes.
SEMI-PROFESSIONAL
Semi-professional frequently use weak
ties to land or hear about a new job.
BLUE COLLAR
The majority of people of a lower
status will find a job though a
relative or close friends.
LOW STATUS
For those of a lower status, weak
ties of a similar status are not
especially useful or far reaching.
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
EXAMPLE:
PART TIME TEACHER
4 Strong Ties
6 Weak Ties
Through both types of ties he
knows people in the class
above and below his own.
LOCAL BRIDGE
A person who can connect two
people who don’t know each other.
Bridges can connect people outside
their circle and help them reach
different jobs.
TIGHT CIRCLES
When everyone in a circle primarily
have strong ties with each other, it
becomes difficult to reach beyond
that circle.
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Chapter 5:
Participation Questions
Do you use Facebook to keep up
with friends and family?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 5:
Participation Questions
Do you have any Facebook
friends that you’ve never met in
person?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 5:
Participation Questions
Do you regularly participate in
any massively multiplayer online
role-playing games (MMORPGs)
like World of Warcraft or Second
Life?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 5:
Participation Questions
Do you participate in any
extracurricular groups on campus
whose members meet regularly in
person?
a. yes
b. no
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Class Discussion
• 1. Has there been a time in your life in which
you gave into group pressure knowing that
you were wrong in doing so?
• 2. Where do you recognize power in your
life?
• 3. Think of examples where instrumental and
expressive leadership are useful in social
situations?
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This concludes the Lecture
PowerPoint presentation for
Chapter 5
© 2014 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
4th Edition
Kerry Ferris
and
Jill Stein
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